From Nigel's Kitchen Table

Autumn & Winter · Biscuits · Spring & Summer

Gingerbread Biscuits

Name: Gingerbread Biscuits
Prep time: 6 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 76 min
Ingredients: 150 g butter (at room temperature); 150 g light brown sugar; 100 g molasses; 1 medium egg (at room temperature); 1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1/4 tsp of vanilla paste; 350 g plain flour (all-purpose); 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tbsp ground ginger; ¼ tsp fine sea salt; 100 g icing sugar; 2 medium egg whites (or egg white powder or aquafaba); 1-2 tsp room temperature water; food colouring optional

Recipe by Nigel Clease Kitchen-tested

Autumn & Winter 7 min read

Crisp-edged, chewy gingerbread biscuits filled with warm festive spice and rich molasses flavour.

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ReliableKitchen-tested instructions

PracticalClear timings and measurements

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These gingerbread biscuits are crisp, soft and chewy with the perfect amount of warm ginger spice, there’s only one problem, they are ridiculously moreish!

They come together quickly and easily, using just a few ingredients, great for making and decorating with children. You can leave them plain or decorate them after they’re baked with royal icing as desired. This is one biscuit I love to make for Christmas every year for the family, which is always a winner.

I love to bake a few different biscuits/cookies for Christmas and arrange them on a nice platter for when people drop by. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these Christmas recipes: chestnut snowball cookies, Viennese biscuits, cranberry lemon shortbread, cinnamon biscuits and Linzer Biscuits.

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS
INGREDIENTS
WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?
NUTRITION
STORAGE AND FREEZING
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
RECIPE TIPS
RECIPE – Gingerbread biscuits
HOW DID IT TURN OUT FOR YOU!
PIN FOR LATER!

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

EASE: incredibly easy to make and you only need to use one bowl.
TASTE & TEXTURE: a sweet, soft, chewy biscuit with a crisp outside and ginger spice.
SERVING: they are delicious on their own or served with a nice hot cup of tea.
QUANTITY: 25-30 biscuits
TIME: 10 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling.

Gingerbread Biscuits – preparation step 7

Gingerbread Biscuits – preparation step 3

INGREDIENTS

For this recipe, all you need are these ingredients:

Butter – adds structure and flavour. I use salted butter for most of my baking as it intensifies the flavours, but feel free to use unsalted if you prefer. Make sure it’s at room temperature before using.

Light brown sugar – adds a slight caramel sweetness to the gingerbread.

Molasses – adds a depth of flavour to these beautiful biscuits, as well as a soft and chewy consistency on the inside.

Medium egg – binds the ingredients, adds flavour, and helps to make the biscuits a little lighter.

Vanilla – I use Taylor & Colledge vanilla products, they add a delicious taste to your recipes and enhance the other ingredient flavours: pure vanilla extract, vanilla paste or vanilla pods.

Plain (all-purpose) flour – builds structure.

Baking powder – is a chemical leavening which increases the volume of the ingredients, creating a nice light texture.

Ground ginger – gives these biscuits their distinctive taste and aroma.

Salt – I highly recommend adding a good pinch of fine sea salt to your biscuit dough. It may seem unusual in a sweet recipe, but salt helps balance the sweetness, soften any bitterness and bring out the flavour of ingredients such as chocolate, vanilla, citrus and spices. It should not make the biscuits taste salty; it simply makes every flavour brighter and more rounded.
I like to use Maldon Sea Salt flakes or Cornish Sea Salt, crushed finely before adding, but any good-quality fine sea salt will work well. Do not be tempted to leave it out—it is often the small ingredient that makes the biggest difference.

WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

Spices – try adding additional spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice or cardamon. You don’t need much, so just half a teaspoon of one or two of these spices.

Nutrition

Serving: one gingerbread biscuit (no icing)

110.14 kcal

CALORIES · 6% DV

4.32 g

TOTAL FAT · 6% DV

16.5 g

CARBOHYDRATES · 6% DV

7.4 g

SUGARS · 8% DV

1.45 g

PROTEIN · 3% DV

35.67 mg

SODIUM · 2% DV

0.34 g

FIBRE · 1% DV

% Daily Values based on a 2,000-calorie diet

Nutrition information is provided as an estimate and may vary depending on the ingredients and portion size used.

STORAGE AND FREEZING

For the first day, these biscuits will be firm and crunchy but will soften as time goes by. They keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Freezing the baked gingerbread – cool the biscuits completely after baking and place them in a freezer bag or airtight container. They will last up to 1 month. When you are ready to serve, allow the cookies to reach room temperature.

Gingerbread Biscuits – preparation step 5

Gingerbread Biscuits – preparation step 4

TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

Earthenware Mixing Bowl Mason Cash, Cream 29 cm Chip Resistant.

I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4-litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer, and dishwasher safe.

Mixing Bowls Set of 5, Stainless Steel Nesting Bowls with Airtight Lids, 3 Grater Attachments, Size 5, 3, 2, 1.5, 0.63 QT

These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, great for using as dry storage bowls with lids. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre, where one of 3 graters can be used for grating cheese or vegetables.

Both of these sets of cookie cutters are great for making this gingerbread recipe.

RECIPE TIPS

Use room temperature ingredients – this is really important; it makes it easier to work with and allows the ingredients to emulsify properly.

Avoid over mixing the dough – which could lead to tough biscuits. Only mix the dough until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.

Rolling out – make sure your worksurface and rolling pin are floured generously to prevent the dough from sticking to them.

Shaping – don’t roll the dough out too thin, otherwise the biscuits will become to hard once baked.

Resting and chilling the dough – if you want to get the best results, placing the dough in the fridge prior to baking allows the dry ingredients to absorb the moisture from the wet ingredients. This creates more flavour in the dough and makes it easier to roll out with less sticking.

Avoid over baking the biscuits – all ovens are different, and you want to avoid overbaking this biscuit. The size of your biscuits will determine the amount of time they require to bake. My medium size biscuits, which are 10cm in length, take around 10 minutes to bake for a soft version and up to 14 minutes for a crunchy version. Any longer and you will be left with a hard, crunchy cookie.